My St. Patrick's Day Dinner 2021
I love entertaining at my farm.
Earlier this week, I hosted a St. Patrick's Day dinner party. It was a relatively small affair with the table set for 10. I arranged for my friend, Chef Pierre Schaedelin from PS Tailored Events, to share his expertise in my kitchen. Together, we came up with a perfect menu. The first course was pea soup with pea flan and pea shoots, followed by the traditional corned beef and root vegetables. The dessert course was rhubarb crisp and a delectable milk chocolate pistachio tart.
I've already shared photos of the cooking - here are all the beautiful finished dishes. It was an evening of good company and great food.
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- Whenever I entertain, I love to set a gorgeous table in my Brown Room. My housekeeper, Enma, works with me to choose the place settings. Of course for this occasion, we used a green theme for St. Patrick’s Day. Three blooming begonias were used for the centerpieces.
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- Each place setting had a whimsical polka-dotted placemat. The green china plates are monogrammed with an “S” while the crisp white linen napkins show embroidered “M” letters.
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- Traditional Irish soda bread loaves were placed on serving boards, so guests could help themselves. Pats of Kerry Gold Irish butter were served on the side – one row of salted, and one row of unsalted.
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- Legend has it that, in some areas of Ireland, a cross was cut on the top of the Irish soda bread with a knife to ward off the devil and protect the household. It also helps the bread cook evenly and thoroughly. Irish soda bread is a somewhat sweet white bread made with eggs and butter and studded with raisins and caraway seeds — the “soda” in the name comes from the baking soda, or “bread soda” in Ireland, used to leaven it instead of yeast and kneading.
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- One of my guests gifted me with this “pot of gold” – chocolate gold coins and delicious snow apples. The Snow Apple — aptly named for both the fruit’s white flesh and the tree’s winter hardiness — is one of the oldest known apple varieties. Also called the Fameuse, it originated in France, probably in the 1600s and was introduced to Canada and America one hundred years later.
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- Large platters were set out on my long kitchen counter for the corned beef and vegetables.
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- Dessert plates were placed on another counter. It’s always a good idea to have all the china close at hand and ready to use ahead of time, so there is no fumbling for items later.
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- Delicious gougeres were passed around once everyone arrived. A gougère, in French cuisine, is a baked savory choux pastry made of choux dough and mixed with cheese. The cheese is commonly grated Gruyère, Comté, or Emmentaler. These are always a big hit to serve before the main meal.
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- These ramekins are filled with individual pea flans – the silky texture of this custard is an elegant way to show off the subtle flavor of peas.
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- The pea flan was served with the pea soup and topped with pea shoots.
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- Here I am with my friend, Chef Pierre. We’ve been planning wonderful meals together for many years. We stopped for this quick photo just before everyone came out to fill their plates.
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- Everything was so beautiful, and delicious – the corned beef, which I prepared and brined for a week, came out so tender and flavorful. The vegetables were also very tasty – fresh cabbage, turnips, parsnips, celery, potatoes, and cabbage.
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- Each platter was filled with all the traditional fixings of a St. Patrick’s Day feast. In turn, each guest also filled their plate, many returning for second helpings.
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- Here is a full plate at the dinner table. In Ireland, beef was a meat reserved only for the wealthy. The Great Famine resulting from potato blight caused a mass migration of the Irish to the new world. In America, corned beef was readily available to Irish immigrants and became a favored comfort food.
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- We served the corned beef with salt and a variety of mustards. I also provided fresh horseradish that I made from the horseradish roots grown right here at my farm. It is not hard to do – refer to this horseradish blog posted in November 2018 for the recipe, just click on this highlighted link.
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- For dessert, individual rhubarb crisps – fresh rhubarb topped with streusel made with flour, light brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and butter.
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- And remember all those tuile shamrock wafers? We used them to top our Milk Chocolate Pistachio Tarts – just perfect for the occasion.
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- Here’s a closer look at one of the tarts.
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- One piece of of tart for each guest along with one rhubarb crisp embellished with tuile shamrocks – a beautiful dessert and an excellent meal.
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- Chef Pierre and Moises stopped for a quick photo after dinner. It was so nice to gather with a few friends once again and share this wonderful meal.
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